McCain is salivating to be the next prez; why is he so supportive of

[babylonsister]

continuing this war and committing many more troops, when he knows the majority of this country don't agree? It doesn't make sense; he's been very willing to chuck his ideals to the curb to curry favor with lots of people, why not on this issue?

[Hubert Flottz]

1. Bush said that McCain went crazy after the Commies tortured him

for a while and I guess Bush was telling the truth for once!

[Cocoa]

2. he's making the same calculation Lieberman did

people have come to expect both of them to continue to support the war. A number of people who don't support the war themselves will say ok, we disagree on that but in general I trust him, etc.

Whereas if either of them flipped on the issue, how many people opposed to the war would respect that?

[babylonsister]

3. But this is a HUGE (mis)calculation. I guess that's why I'm

a Dem; I would have lots more respect for them both if they'd admit the error of their ways. Sounds like dimson; can't bear to admit they made a mistake.

[Cocoa]

4. we don't know that yet

Jonah Goldberg just said on RW radio that the republicans would be better off if McCain had been elected in 2000 instead of Bush. That's a pretty remarkable thing to hear on RW radio.

[pdxmom]

5. For the same reason he's suddenly anti-choice. He's pandering to

the base. He's got to get past the base to get through the primaries. If he were to get the Repukes nod for the presidency, watch him tack hard left and flip his views again, to try to garner the moderates and independents. Slime.

[babylonsister]

6. But he's not 'suddenly' pro-war, he's been that way from the get-go.

And I find it hard to believe his 'base' are all gung-ho war supporters, thus my confusion.
I know he's been slippin' and sliding, doesn't seem to have a moral compass to guide him, so
I really wonder why he's 'staying the course' on the war.

[gatorboy]

7. Because the press STILL gives him a free pass even after the flip flops.

Hell, they'll probably still sell him off as a "Maverick" until the 2008 elections.

[NewJeffCT]

8. Frank Rich nailed him on this

This was from the Sunday NY Times, so I do not have a link, as I read the article in an airplane, and I'm doing this from memory.

McCain has been for the war all along. Rich reasons that Bush's war will still be a disaster come 2008, so anybody that is tied to supporting the war will have a HUGE albatross around their neck.

The only way for McCain to not be completely sunk for his supporting the war is to call for more troops, even though he damn well knows they are not available, and it won't work.

That way, if anybody asks him how he can justify this disaster that now only 15% of Americans support in early 2008, he can say, "well, I wanted more troops and if only first Rumsfeld and Bush, and now the Democratic Congress, had listened to me, we would have been successful."

[babylonsister]

9. I did hear (or read?) some mention of Rich's column.

To me, that's convoluted and won't necessarily work. Also, we can't escape the fact that people are still dying. It's sad that that fact doesn't seem to bother McCain. You'd think he'd be someone most bothered after his VN experiences.

[NewJeffCT]

10. It's very cynical on McCain's part

But, with his cheerleading of this unpopular war, what other choice does he have if he still wants to be electable?

I mean, even if we had another 20,000 troops, it wouldn't amount to a hill of beans there. We recently relocated a bunch of troops to Baghdad (from other regions in Iraq) in order to try to restore security there at least... and, that has been a complete disaster.

[gatorboy]

12. Which makes his "Deploy More Troops" suggestion more deplorable.

He KNOWS it's too late to do any good and would probably get more kids killed. But he'd easily do it just to save his hide politically

[babylonsister]

14. Doesn't it though. I think his hide is cooked myself. Between his

stance on Iraq and his contribution to the war crimes commission/doing away w/habeas corpus, he's lost any inkling of respectibility he might have had with me.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Has he got fed up with selling

frozen Hash Browns etc ? :)

[Jim__]

13. McCain probably believes that Iraq is a disaster waiting to happen.

I know it's already a disaster. But, in 2008 we may be looking back at this as a time when something might still be done to prevent the larger disaster (e.g. regional war). More troops may be a fantasy, but, in 2008 it may look like it was our last hope.

What do you think is going to happen in Iraq? Who do you think is going to look like they were "right"on Iraq in 2006?

[babylonsister]

16. I think there's no choice but to draw down troops, not

increase their numbers (since we don't have enough extra soldiers lying around to accomplish that anyway). IMO that will make McCain look like the clueless buffoon he is.

[Norquist Nemesis]

15. I just don't see him winning at this point

It seems to be that he's the "lead" runner due more to name recognition than anything else.

He's sold out on just about every one of his positions. On the issue of torture, the "maverick" turned to jell-o after he had face time with Bush(Cheney?) and possibly a private political consultation from Karl as a bonus. He makes friends with Jerry Falwell after making 'harsh' public criticisms; did sell his soul to the RR voting block with an agreement to change his abortion stance? Balanced budget, smaller government, reign in spending? Puhleeze!

IMNSHO, he has no 'pizazz' as a public speaker. He'll have the Base, but every Presidential Nominee for either party would have their Base at a minimum. He's going to have to completely transform himself into an energetic, charistmatic, charming candidate to garner more votes than the Base. I just don't see him pulling that off...McCain is, well, Booorrrring! *yawn*